Improvement in car-couplings



N..BAKER &QA. SOWLE.

' Gar-Coupling.

No. 211,453. Patented Jan. 21,1879.

WITNESSES dag/i n. rwfzw wl (122551852 ATTORNEY N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPKER. WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NELsoN BAKER, or OOLDWATER, MICHIGAN, AND ALFRED SOWLE, on

FREMONT, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 211,453, dated January 21, 1879 application filed December 14, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, NELsoN BAKER, of Goldwater, in the county of Branch and State of Michigan, and ALFRED SowLE, of Fremont, in the county of Steuben and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Couplings; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which they appertain to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawin gs, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a side view of the ends of an ordinary freight and platform car having our invention attached thereto; and Fig. 2 is a front View of one end of the freight-car, showing the levers for operating the invention.

This invention has relation to devices for coupling cars and it consists of improvements in the construction of the same, hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings similar letters of reference indicate like parts of the invention.

A is a bumper, constructed so as to form a hook at b, working in a slot in the bottom of the car, in which is also located a spiral spring, a, to lessen the jar in coupling. The bumper A is provided with a U-shaped link, B, pivoted to it in such a manner as to admit of a vertical movement. A chain, 0, is connected to the link B just forward of its pivoted point, which chain extends upward, and is attached to the lower end of a vertical lever, D. The lever D is secured to the end of the car by ordinary staples d d. A spring, E, secured to the car presses the lever D outward.

The inner side of the lever D, near its lower end, is provided with a pin, F, which engages when the lever is pushed down in the hole 9 and when the lever is up in the hole g, of the plate G, secured to the end of the car.

The lever D being connected to the link B by the chain 0, it will readily be seen that by raising the lever D the link B will be raised, and by lowering the lever D- the link B will fall and engage with the hook I) on the bumper A of the adjoining, car.

The end or handleH of the lever D extends up to the top of the car, where coupling may be safely carried on without danger to the attendant. Two auxiliary levers, M and N, are

pivoted at their fulcrums m and n on either side of the main lever, H, the inner ends of the levers M and N being hinged to the lower end of the main lever, H, while the outer ends or handles extend clear of the sides of the car, so that, in addition to coupling from the top of the car, the operation may be safely and quickly performed by the attendant while standing on the ground and on either side of the train.

The operation of the device, as will readily be seen, is as follows: The attendant being on top of the cars, when they are close together, he simply draws the handle H toward him, which disengages the pin 1 from the slot 9 and presses it down, allowing the link B to fall over and engage with the hook I) on the opposite bumper, thus simply and without danger coupling the cars. By reversing the operation the cars are disconnected.

Having thus described our invention, and the manner of operating the same, what we claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

A car-coupler consisting of the U-shaped link B, pivoted to the bumper A, having hook I), the chain 0, levers D, M, and N, operating the pin F, and the plate G, having slots 9 g, in combination with the spring E, constructed and operating substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

NELSON BAKER. ALFRED SOWLE. Witnesses J AMEs It. DIoKEY, IDA G. Fox. 

